Titans compete among region’s best at Howard Wood Relays

The Tea Area High School track and field teams tested themselves against some of the top competition in the Upper Midwest at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays, held May 1–2 in Sioux Falls.

One of the largest meets in the region, the annual event featured more than 3,000 middle and high school athletes, providing a high-level stage for standout performances and season-best efforts.

Leading the way for the Titans was junior Sydney Stahlecker, who turned in a breakout performance in the girls 400-meter dash. Stahlecker placed second with a personal-best time of 56.05 seconds, a mark that ranks No. 2 in South Dakota this season. She also added a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter dash finals, crossing the line in 12.65 seconds after advancing through prelims and semifinals.

Tea Area also found success in relay competition, highlighted by multiple top-three finishes. The girls 4x400-meter relay team of Jayna VanLaecken, Brooklyn Reiners, Grace Bialas and Stahlecker placed second with a time of 3:57.47, a season-best performance that ranks among the top times in Class AA this year.

The girls 4x800-meter relay team — Grace Bialas, Abby Hilleson, Jayna VanLaecken and Jaycie Babb — also secured a runner-up finish, posting a time of 9:37.97. In addition, the girls 1600-meter sprint medley relay team took third place in 4:13.48. Team members included Emma Hilleson, Nola Terveen, Reiners, and Babb. This marked a new season best and places them third in Class AA. 

On the boys side, the 1600-meter sprint medley relay team of Hayden Bialas, Beckett Martens, Noah Korver and Jack Campbell earned a third-place finish with a time of 3:44.08. This also was a season best time. 

While not finishing in the top placements, the boys distance medley relay team made history for the program. The quartet of Campbell, Korver, Tate VanLaecken and Reid Hammerquist set a new school record with a time of 11:25.50 in the event. 

Several other relay teams recorded season-best times over the two-day meet. 

Individually, Beckett Martens delivered a strong showing in the boys 100-meter dash, finishing fourth in the finals with a time of 10.99 seconds after advancing through both prelims and semifinals. Dawood Toto also cracked the top 10 in the boys 300-meter hurdles, placing 10th in 40.83 seconds.

In distance events, senior Jaycie Babb placed 18th in the girls 1600-meter run with a season-best time of 5:12.50, while Sam Bullis cleared 13 feet, 3 inches to finish 15th in the boys pole vault.